Signal for vehicles



J. J. LANAHAN.

SIGNAL FOR VEHICLES.

APPLlCATlON FILED NOV. 16, 1911.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES JQLANA AN, or BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

mm. 150R VEHICLES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that L'JAME's J. LANAHAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State or New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Signals for Vehicles, or whichthe following is' a specification.

This inventionrelates to a signal forautomobiles or other vehicles forindicating the direction wliiclrthe vehicle is about to take orwhetherthe same is aboutto stop, and thereby avoid traiiic accidents.

It is the object of this invention. to 131'0. vide a signal of thischaracter which is simple and compact in construction; neat inappearance, eflicient and reliable in operation and low in cost. i

In the accompanying drawings: v

Figure 1 is an elevation on a reduced scale, of my improved signalshowing. the

same applied to the wind shield of an auto-,

nobile and the movable parts being shifted into their operativeposition; Fig. 2isa vertical longitudinal section of'this signal, onanenlarged scale. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on thecorrespondingly numbered line in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 isa' vertical transversesection, on anenlarged scale, taken 011 line 4 1, Fig. 2. 4 Fig; 5 is afragmentary, verticahlongitudinal section taken on line 5 5, Fig'jt.-Fig.6 isa detached inside elevationofthe disk of the electric switchwhich controls the -circuitiofthe sig nal lamp forming partof thisinvention.

Similar characters I of reference indicate corresponding part-sthroughoutthe several the casing for terminating the signalc' The casing'1 which forms the supportin the present instance ispreferablyconstructed of sheet metal and'has ain opening;inits outersidethrough which the; signal device is adapted to moveinto'and out ofthef'casinm This casing may be mounted on anysuitable' or convenientpart of thef-vehic1e,- for instance, on the frame 2 of the windshieldjof an automobile; for whlclr purpose a clampfing;device .is prov dedwhich comprises two I Speeificationof Letters l atent.

Application filed. November 16, 1917. Serial No. 202,265.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

clamping jaws 3 a, engaging with opposite s des of an upright bar of thewind shield i'rame and a clamping bolt 5 which passes horizontally andtransversely through these clampingjawethe inner part of the casing anda spacmgsleeveG arranged within the casing, as best'shown in Figs; 2 and3. The

opening on the outer: side of the casing is covered and uncovered-bymeans of a lid on door 7 which is preferably pivotallv con nected at itslower end bya hinge 8 with the lower part of the casing so that this lidcan either swing into its upright closed position ordownwardly into ahorizontal open position. On the innerside of this lid ismounted thesignal devicewhich isso constructed that it displays asignal.duringthedav time and also during the night time. In its preferred formthe signal device comprises a semaphore of-sheet metal havingalongitudinal bar or plate-9'arranged parallelito i thelid, alug 10arrangedat the inner end of the'bar and secured to the lidiadjacent tothe pivotal connection of the same with the casing and a ring 11arranged at the outer end of the semaphore'bar andsecured to the outeror upper partof the lid. This lid, together with the signal devicemounted thereon, may be'moved inwardly andioutwardly into itsinoperative and operative position, by any suitable means, for instance,

by ashifting rod 12 arranged horizontally within the lower partlof thecasing. and

passingthro'ugh an opening 13. in the rear or inner wall thereof andpivotally connected at its outer'end by. means of a screw 14 with thesemaphore lug while its innerqend is provided with a finger piece orhandle 15 whereby this rod may be actuated manually.

l6 represents an electric lightbulb mount- .edon thesemaphore sothatits' filament is arranged in line with theopening within the ring ll'and when illuminated serves as a night signal on opposite sides of thesemaphore. current may be supplied by wires 1'7, 18 to this lamp fromany suitable source,

' ;i ')r-instance the generator or storage bat tcry 19. now commonly;employed in connection with the ignition and illuminating systems ofautomobiles. A s'witchmechanism :is provided whereby this lamp will vbeautomatically lighted whenjthe signahdevice is ,moved outwardly into itsoperative position andJextinguished when the same is returned toits'normal inoperative position.

preferred form of thisswitch mechanism In the 7 the same is combinedwith a stop device whereby the outward movement of the sig nal deviceinto the operative position is limited, this stop device as shown in thedraw ings, being preferably constructed as follows:

20, 21 represent two switch supporting disks which are constructed ofvulcanite or similar material, the disk 20 being relatively fixedandsecured to the inner part of the semaphore by means of a rivet 22, asshown in Fig. 4%, and the other disk 21 being rotatable concentricallyrelative to the fixed disk and pivotally connected therewith and thesemaphore by means of a pivot-bolt having a hollow shank 2-3 whichpasses axially through both switch supporting disks and the semaphoreand engages its head 24- with the outer side of the movable switch diskwhile its nut 25 engages with the outer side of the semaphore, as bestshown in Fig. 4. On the opposing sides of the switch disks are arrangedthe contact members which are adapted toform parts of the circuit of theelectric lamp and to open and close this circuit upon turning theseswitch disks one relatively to the other@ In the preferred form of thisswitch the fixed disk 20 is provided with two metallic contacts 26, 27,to which the circuit wires are connected and the relatively rotatabledisk 21 is provided with a metal bridge contact 28 which is adapted tocooperate with the fixed contacts 26, 27, of the other disk. Thearrangement and construction of the contacts of these two switch disksis preferably such that the bridging contact 28 of the disk21 engageswith only one of the contacts of the fixed switch disk when the lid,semaphore and lamp are in their retracted or inoperative position,thereby breaking the circuit of the lamp and extinguishing the same atthis time, but upon moving the lid, semaphore and lamp outwardly into alaterallyprojecting position relative to the casing for giving a signal,the bridging contact 28 of the movable switch disk engages with bothfixed contacts 26, 27, immediately after the initial opening movement ofthe'lid, semaphore and lamp is effected, until these members reach theiroutermost position, thereby causing the lamp to be not only illuminatedwhile in its farthermost or projected position but also causing the sameto produce a sweeping light as it moves outwardly from the casing andback again, whereby a more effective signalis given than would be thecase if the lamp were simply lighted and extinguished while in itsoutmost position."

The turning movement of the rotatable switch disk is effected by meanswhich also form part of the stop device which limits the outwardmovement of'the semaphore,

lid and lamp, and as best shownin Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the switch actuatingand .stop

1 projecting laterally from the front end of the stop rod through thehollow shank 23 of the bolt from the head-end thereof, a nut 34 appliedto this pivot pin and engaging with'the nut end of the bolt shank 23,anda staple-shaped fastening 35 for connecting the stop rod with the outerside of the movable switch disk. p

Upon shifting the lid and the parts mounted thereon outwardly, the stoprod slides outwardly in the lug 29 until the stop head 32 at its innerend engages with this lug at which time the outward movement of the lidis arrested and in the preferred organization is so determined that thelid, semaphore and lamp project laterally at this time from the casing,as shown by full lines in Figs. 1, 2 and. Upon swinging the lid and theparts mounted thereon upwardly and inwardly into their retractedposition so that the signal devices are inclosed within the casing, thestop rod slides inwardly and upwardly through the stop lug into theposition indicated by dotted lines, in Fig. 2. During such slidingmovement of the, stop rod through the stop lug, the front end of thesame and the movable switch disk 21 connected therewith turnrelatively'to the fixed switch-disk 20 so that this switch operates tocomplete the circuit of the lamp and give a light signal upon moving thelid, semaphore and lamp outwardly and inwardly and. to extinguish thelamp during the last part of the retractingmovement of the lidandassociated parts.

In order to cut off thesource of electricity from the lamp duringdaytime when the lightis not required, an auxiliary hand switch 36 isprovided in the circuit which may be of any'suitable construction.

As a whole, this signal comprises very few parts which can be easilyassembled, the

structure is very compact and presents a neat appearance and the samecontains no delicate parts which are likely to get out of order, therebyrendering the same particularly suitable for use as a direction signalfor automobiles which will serve to indicate the intention of the driverduring the da time or during the'night time as to whetherth'e'particular driver intends to stop or turn toward theright or towardthe left, whereby the safety of pedestrians and the passengers isincreased. v

I claim as my invention:

ILA vehicle signalcomprising a semaphore pivotallymounted on said casingand'movable into and out of the same, a

casing, a

stop device for limiting the opening movement of said semaphorecomprising a stop lug arranged on the inner side of said casing and astop rod slidable on said lug and provided at its inner end with a stopadapted to engage with the back of said lug while its outer end ispivotally connected with said semaphore on one side of the pivotalconnection between the latter and the casing, an electric lamp mountedon said semaphore, and an electric switch having contacts arranged inthe circuit of said lamp and adapted to be engaged and disengaged by therelative rotary movement of said semaphore and stop rod. v I

2. A vehiclesignal comprising a casing, a semaphore pivotally mounted onsaid casing and movable into and out of the same, an' I electric lampmounted on said semaphore, an electric switch mounted on said semaphoreand comprising two insulating disks,

one of which is fixed on the semaphore and the other rotatablerelatively to said fixed disk, cooperating contacts arranged in thecircuit of said lamp and mounted respec' t'ively on said disks, andmeans for turning said disks relatively to one another upon ,7 movingsaid semaphore into and out off its operative position.

3. Avehicle signal comprising a casing, a

semaphore pivotally mounted on said casing and movable into and out ofthe same, an

electric lamp mounted on said semaphore, an electric switch mounted onsaid semaphore and comprising two insulatingdisks one of which is fixed011 the semaphore andthe other rotatable relatively to said fixed disk,cooperating contacts arranged in the circuit ofs'aid lamp and mountedrespectively on said disks, meansv for pivotally connecting said diskscomprising a hollow pivot bolt;

passing axially through said disks and hearing with its head againstthepivoted disk and with its nut against t he semaphore, and means forturning said movable disk and limiting the outward movement; of saidsemaphore comprising a sto) lug arranged on said casing, and a stop'roslidable in said stop lug and provided at its inner end with a stopengaging with said .lug and at its oufiend with a, laterally-projectingpivot wrist which is arranged in saidhollow bolt and-connected with saidrotatable disk.

JAMES J. LANAHAN.

